Physical health issues can significantly impact mental health, and vice versa. Growing consumer understanding of this relationship has driven interest in nutritional interventions that support active lifestyles, healthy ageing, and quicker recovery from injury. Collagen peptides have attracted a great deal of attention of late for their purported positive impact on tissue health.

“Skin health, beauty from within, and anti-ageing is what put collagen on the map,” says Dr Shiloah Anna-Sara Kviatkovsky, Assistant Professor, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Department of Orthopaedics. “Scientists began to understand the mechanisms of how collagen works and realised that it is applicable to almost all collagen containing tissue, including connective tissue.”

Studying the impact of collagen peptides

Kviatkovsky’s research focuses on nutritional interventions for connective tissue health, with an emphasis on collagen supplementation for maintaining healthy connective tissue, enhancing recovery from injury and orthopaedic surgery. She also serves as a scientific advisor for PB Leiner, a leading provider of gelatine and collagen peptide solutions.

“There are a lot of pre-clinical animal model trials that have shown improvements in tissue, skin and joint health,” she says. “There have also been a good number of studies over last decade suggesting that collagen can enhance recovery from injury, especially when paired with rehabilitative exercise.”

A recent study conducted by PB Leiner, in collaboration with Florida State University (FSU), sought to explore whether the company’s SOLUGEL collagen peptides could reduce pain and improve physical function among physically active middle-aged people. This randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial compared the effects 5 grams a day (g/d) of SOLUGEL versus placebo, taken twice daily over the course of 6 months.

“Our aim of was to see if SOLUGEL could be efficacious for reducing pain, and improving physical function, among active people within the general population,” says Kviatkovsky.

Physical and mental wellbeing improvements

The findings, which have just been published, suggest that a 10g daily dose could provide the most benefits in terms of pain reduction, physical function, and mental wellbeing among people who exercise between 30 and 60 minutes most days of the week.

Those consuming 10g per day of SOLUGEL over the course of six months reported reduced joint pain in more frequent exercisers compared to placebo group. Interestingly, pain worsened in placebo group. Activities of daily living scores also improved with 10g/d compared to placebo group as did mental well-being scores. Although mental wellbeing improved within three months compared to placebo.

“What was surprising was that mental wellbeing improvements were seen as early as three months,” says Kviatkovsky. “This could be a function of participants being active, or it could be a direct impact of the collagen on mood. This is an exciting finding and will need to be explored much further.”

Holistic approaches to maximise health

With a Masters in sports nutrition and exercise physiology, and a PhD, in exercise physiology, Kviatkovsky is looking forward to presenting the study’s findings at Vitafoods Europe.

“I worked for the US Navy for four years, focusing on special ops populations and looking at enhancing performance and readiness,” she says. “I’m really interested in supplements that can enhance performance and recovery and finding holistic approaches to maximise health. I think Vitafoods will be a great opportunity to share what we have, and see what ingredients are out there.”

Kviatkovsky also intends to use her presentation at Vitafoods Europe to answer industry questions, and to look ahead at how cutting-edge research can be translated into marketable products that bring consumers benefits. “I’ll be outlining what still needs to be done in this field,” she says. “A key question is, where does collagen fit into the protein market? SOLUGEL and other collagen products are not meant to be taken as a substitute for protein products such as whey – we see it as being complementary, to enhance the connective tissue that supports skeletal muscle.”

Dr Shiloah Kviatkovsky will deliver her presentation together with Dr Reyhan Nergiz Unal, Health and Nutrition Science Lead at PB Leiner. PB Leiner is a Gold Sponsor of the Vitafoods Europe Conference under Sports Nutrition and Active Lifestyle theme this year.